Roses and Thorns
by Meandmysarcasm
Summary: Remus Lupin sometimes feels guilty about the pranks he and his friends pull on Severus Snape. But he says nothing, scared to ruin his friendship. Only when fellow Gryffindor prefect Lily Evans berates him, does he realize they've overstepped the mark. But can he put a stop to it? And, without his merciless taunting of Snape, could Lily ever fall in love with his friend? Pls Review
1. Chapter 1

Sometimes Remus Lupin felt a surge of guilt for all the pranks they played on Snape.

He would rather drink a gallon of flesh-eating slug repellent than admit that to James or Sirius though. It's just… neither of them understood what it was really like to be the outsider, to have people flinch away from you or pretend they couldn't hear you when you tried to strike up a conversation. But not Snape. Remus should have seen it earlier, but he supposed he'd been deliberately turning a blind eye, pretending not to see the obvious.

Remus knew all about being lonely though. And if he ever forgot…well, the full moon would come around again soon enough, and he would be bundled out of the castle, away from prying eyes. Away from the people who laughed at his jokes and cheered him on at the parties where he and his friends smuggled back firewhisky from Hogsmaede.

His friends. For the first time in his life, Remus felt like he _belonged._ James and Sirius and Peter all knew what he was, yet they didn't turn their backs on him when they found out. Instead, they acted as though it wasn't a big deal to have a best friend who happened to be a werewolf and they looked for ways in which to make life easier for him. So as guilty as he felt about their treatment of Snape, Remus decided it wasn't worth saying anything. The other boy would survive whatever James Potter threw at him. Remus couldn't be so sure that he would survive losing his friends over Snape.

 _Well Snape did start it,_ he told himself, time and time again, whenever it seemed as though James and Sirius were going a step too far. And that might even have been true, but it didn't excuse everything they'd done.

He might have kept feigning ignorance, until Lily Evans slammed her books down at his table in the library one night.

She took one look at the red prefect badge glittering on his robes and sneered.

"You're a terrible human being, you know. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Remus felt his cheeks burn, but he kept his head down, pretending to be absorbed in his copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5._

Only to find it yanked away from him. He made a noise of protest as Evans held it behind her back, out of his reach.

"What's the matter, Lupin? Am I bothering you?"

"I'm trying to revise," he said, keeping his voice calm.

Evans let out a shrill little chuckle.

"That's a shame. Didn't seem to bother you when you were taunting Serverus the other day."

Steeling himself, he forced his eyes to meet hers. Lily's huge green eyes widened a fraction, caught off guard. Although they'd shared classes for the last four years, Remus could never remember either of them saying more than a handful of words to one another. Usually their interactions revolved around James shouting something at her, and Lily threatening to turn him into a slug.

Up close, she smelled of flames. Remus suspected she'd been spending time in Slughorn's classroom, practising potions before their O.W.L. next week.

He tilted his head to one side, a small frown on his face.

"I didn't do that," he pointed out.

Evans shook her head. Most of her anger seemed to have evaporated and now all that remained was the soft sadness of disappointment. "Yes, but you didn't do anything to _stop_ Potter though, did you?"

Remus felt her words like a slap. He had forgotten all about his textbook, though Evans held it limply by her side. All he wanted was to get out of the library and as far away from her as possible.

But he knew that wouldn't happen. Like him, Lily Evans wore Gryffindor robes. If he left, he could be sure that she would follow him back to the common room, chipping away at him all the way. Besides, he figured that his friends would be holed up in there, practising hexes on their fellow students. Which would only annoy Evans even more.

Best not to chance it.

Before he could say anything else though, she let out a huge whoosh of breath and sat down beside him, her shoulders slumped.

"Why is he such a moron?"

Remus' eyebrows twitched up. "I'm sorry I-"

"Potter," she hissed. "He's always out trying to impress everyone. Swanning around as though he owns the castle, constantly going on about his stupid quidditch triumphs. As though anyone actually cares."

Knowing he was about to start sniggering, Remus held a hand up to his mouth until the urge died out. He didn't want her to think that he was making fun of her. Although, truth be told, the exasperated tone of her voice did make it a little funnier.

If only James was here. What would he think about Lily Evans talking to one of his best friends about him? James pretended his crush on Lily didn't mean much, but they'd all noticed the side-long glances and the dazed smiles which appeared whenever she sat close to them in class.

"He's not so bad," he replied, in a mild tone of voice.

Evans snorted.

"He isn't. Not once you get to know him."

She didn't say anything in return, just picked up her textbooks and strode out of the library, her bag swinging at her hip. Remus reached for the only book she'd left behind—his book—and tried to find his place.

He'd almost found it when he heard the shuffle of footsteps behind him.

"Next time you want a place to hold a conversation, don't even think about using the library," Madame Pincer hissed at him.

Remus sighed and got back to work.


	2. Chapter 2

**[Hey, just thought I would leave a really quick note in this chapter before you start reading. First up, thanks for all the favourites/views/reviews… they really mean a lot. Okay, so if anything with this is inaccurate, feel free to message/leave a comment and tell me so. I'm a huge fan of the books, but since I am living away from home at the moment, I haven't got copies of the novels on hand, so I'm being forced to remember or google everything. Also, I've decided that, just for the sake of it, I'm keeping James Potter as a Seeker in this. There's been a lot of debate if he is a Chaser or a Seeker, but since he was messing around with the Golden Snitch in Snape's memory of him, I'll keep it like that. Anyhow, enjoy :D and if you leave reviews, I will love you forever.]**

Chapter 2:

This close to the full moon, nightmares crept into his dreams.

Always, he dreamed of Fenrir Greyback looming over him. His mouth looked like a crescent moon in his face, though Lupin could make out the glint of his razor-sharp teeth even in the shadows. Somewhere in the distance, his father pleaded for the werewolf to leave his son alone, promising that he was sorry, that he would never insult him again.

Greyback's face twisted into a smirk. He grabbed hold of Remus' arm, yanking him to his feet. Lyall Lupin gave one last scream. Then Greyback bit him.

Remus Lupin jolted awake in his bed in Gryffindor Tower, his sheets tangled all around his legs. Cold sweat drenched his pyjamas as he tried his best to calm his hammering heart. Outside, rain pattered against the windowpanes and the wind howled like a lonely hunter.

"Moony?"

Remus' neck cricked as he turned to peer into the darkness by his bed. He could just make out the form of Sirius Black, half-hidden by the curtains. He inhaled a deep breath as he felt his bed shift under the weight of his friend.

"You okay?"

Remus chuckled in spite of himself, laughter forcing the nightmare back into some deep chasm of his mind.

"My time of the month, almost," he replied, using their old joke.

They didn't speak for the longest time, listening to James snoring in the bed nearest to them. Sirius, of all his friends, seemed to be the most laid back about his transformations. Remus suspected it was because of his family, and his deep need to rebel against them. His parents were Pure-Bloods, like James', but they were incredibly old fashioned wizards. Last summer, Sirius insisted on Remus staying with his family for a few days, in their grand, opulent house in Grimmauld Place. Remus hadn't even gotten the chance to get used to their house-elf tripping him over and the strange muggle posters in Sirius' room, before they discovered what he was.

Werewolf. Even now, the word sounded dirty to him. Sub-human. It came as no surprise when they threw him out of the house, threatening to jinx him if he ever darkened their doorway again. Sirius stormed out a few moments later, bringing his friends' suitcase with him, and one of his own. After that, they spent the rest of the holidays at his own home, sometimes visited by James and Peter.

"Want a sweet?" Sirius said, breaking the silence.

Remus heard rustling, and a moment later Sirius returned with a small tin.

"What are they?"

Sirius shrugged. "Don't quite know, to be honest. Some kind of lemon flavour. I saw a bowl of them in Dumbledore's office when I got sent there for bribing Peeves to drop those Dungbombs in the exam hall, and thought they might taste okay."

Remus' eyebrows shot up as he took one of the sweets out of the tin. It was a little sticky, but not half-bad once you got used to the bitter tang of lemon and the fizz of the sherbet inside.

"You want me to forge you a note for class today?" Sirius asked, out of the blue.

Remus peered up in response, eyes widening when he realized how alarmed his friend seemed. I must look terrible, he mused, as he cracked open another lemon sherbet with his teeth. At least the sour taste of the sweet masked his own bitter smile.

He shook his head.

"No, I think I can manage. Besides, Gryffindor's playing Slytherin later, remember? There's no way I'm missing James knocking your brother off his broom."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter that made Remus grin. For the last few years, they'd all been trying to become Animagii for him, to help make those trips to the Shrieking Shack less horrifying. Though none of them could transform yet, it was hard to hear Sirius making noises like that and _not_ imagine him as the huge black dog he wanted to become.

"Kid acts like his Comet 120 is going to make up for the fact that he can't fly."

Remus shook his head, his hair flopping over his eyes. He pushed it back, wondering if he was subconsciously beginning to copy his friends' habits. James always messed with his hair.

"Oh come on, he can't be all that bad. Didn't he once nearly hit a muggle jet while you two were practicing?"

For once, Sirius looked a little impressed as the memory came flooding back. "Yeah, I suppose he did. Pretty decent of him. Though I'm still not sure if that thing in the sky was an eerieplane or a pigeon."

 _Eerieplane._ It proved to be too much for Remus, who doubled over in laughter. Sirius pretended to be offended and shoved him in the shoulder.

"Honestly, Padfoot. I'm starting to wonder if I should have bet _for_ you failing Muggle Studies. Maybe you'll be the first student ever to walk out of it will a Troll grade."

Sirius leaned his weight against one of the bedposts by Remus' feet. The first few rays of dawn were threading in through the windows, pooling shadows beneath Sirius' cheekbones and adding a shimmer to the spill of ink dark hair curling around his collar. In that moment it was easy to see why girls turned to giggling messes around him; he looked like a model. Remus doubted the sunlight would be so kind to him.

"Nah," said Sirius, not the slightest bit ruffled. "Professor Goldwater loves me. I think I'd still get a good grade in the O.W.L. even if I wrote that the muggle Prime Minister of England was secretly a Pygmy Puff which drank a bit too much Polyjuice Potion one day and they've kept up the ruse ever since."

Remus snatched up another sherbet lemon.

"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"

Sirius flashed him a very wolfish smile. "That's what all the girls say."

Snorting with laughter, Remus leaned forwards so he could grab at the pillow behind his back and launch it at Sirius. It sailed straight past him, his eyes comically wide, and thumped to rest right on top of James' spread-eagled body.

James let out a groan, batting at the pillow.

"Not right now, Evans. The giant squid is watching. Stop… don't… I'll paint your nails later-"

Remus and Sirius dissolved into giggles at the same time, trying to press their hands over their mouths to stop from waking James, who was back to snoring again.

"He's never going to live this down, is he?" Remus said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

Sirius smirked. "Not if I can help it."


End file.
